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BSE: Experimental Research

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Donoughue): BSE infected brain homogenate was fed in a raw state to calves at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge, in the course of research into BSE.

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

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Lord Donoughue: The calves used in the Pathogenesis Study of BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory were sourced from 12 farms with no history of confirmed cases of BSE. Apart from the requirement that the calves were Friesian/Holstein and male, no other specific selection criteria were applied because it was not possible (or desirable) to source all the calves for one experiment from a single farm and not possible therefore to control all variables. Consequently, calves are allocated to challenge and control groups in the experiment in a random manner to eliminate bias as a result of influences determined by the source farm.

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

    How many cattle were the subject of research into BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge; how many were slaughtered at what ages; how many of the slaughtered cattle demonstrated positive results of infectivity; and how many demonstrated negative results for BSE infectivity at each age.[HL364]

Lord Donoughue: Forty calves were used in the study of the Pathogenesis of BSE at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Weybridge. All available interim results of their ages at slaughter and the demonstration of infectivity in their tissues are published (Wells et al 1998 Veterinary Record 142, 103-106) and further details of infectivity in tissues of these cattle will be published when available.

BSE Cases

The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What is the total number of cattle which have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE from 1986 to date, listed by breed; and whether they will indicate which of them were purebred, or crossbred with the breed of the dam.[HL366]

Lord Donoughue: The following table lists the total number of cattle in Great Britain which have been diagnosed as suffering from BSE from 1986 to 4 February 1998. The cattle are shown by breed, including crossbreed. There are no records kept centrally of BSE cases indicating the breed of the dam.

Number of confirmed BSE cases by breed (as at 4 February 1998)

BreedBSE cases
Unknown2,683
Aberdeen Angus137
Aberdeen Angus x1,317
Ankole2
Ayrshire1,666
Ayrshire x98
Bazadaise1
Belgian Blue84
Belgian Blue x118
Belted Galloway2
Black Her x9
Black Hereford1
Black Limousin x1
Blonde D'Aquitaine59
Blonde D'Aquitaine x100
Blue Grey12
Blue Grey x3
Blue Roan3
British White44
British White x9
Brown Swiss40
Brown Swiss x58
Canadian Angus1
Canadian Angus x2
Canadian Guernsey1
Canadian Holstein1
Charolais424
Charolais x617
Chianina x4
Devon32
Devon x105
Dutch Holstein1
Friesian x466
Friesian/Holstein143,040
Galloway7
Galloway x20
Gelbvieh20
Gelbvieh x17
Gloucester1
Gloucester x1
Guernsey1,510
Guernsey x40
Hereford589
Hereford x8,439
Highland20
Highland x3
Holstein x404
Jersey1,484
Jersey x89
Limousin442
Limousin x2,325
Lincoln Red10
Lincoln Red x3
Longhorn10
Luing x4
Marchigiana2
Meuse Rhine Issel19
Meuse Rhine Issel x18
Murray Grey30
Murray Grey x28
Normandy x2
North Devon14
North Devon x35
Old English White1
Piedmontese6
Piedmontese x7
Red Friesian288
Red Friesian x5
Red Holstein7
Red Holstein x1
Red Poll39
Red Poll x3
Romagnola2
Romagnola x4
Saler5
Saler x5
Shetland1
Shorthorn244
Shorthorn x127
Simmental483
Simmental x2,034
South Devon112
South Devon x22
South Down1
Sussex48
Sussex x97
Welsh Black56
Welsh Black x34
White Park2
Total cases170,361


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The Countess of Mar asked Her Majesty's Government:

    What was the incidence of BSE for each county in the United Kingdom from 1986 to date.[HL367]

Lord Donoughue: The following table shows the total incidence of BSE for each county in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 1997 inclusive.

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Great Britain

CountyTotal of BSE confirmed herds as at 31.12.97Total herds at risk*Total herd incidence per cent. as at 31.12.97
Cleveland6616839.29
Cumbria1,6565,00033.12
Durham3311,25526.37
Tyne & Wear1910118.81
Northumberland4431,35632.67
S. Yorkshire17153831.78
N. Yorkshire1,7444,19841.54
W. Yorkshire3061,39122.00
Humberside25576433.38
Cheshire1,2652,28555.36
Derby7982,20536.19
Hereford & Worcs.7182,37630.22
Lancashire1,2732,63048.40
Leicester5371,23543.48
Merseyside288732.18
Nottingham17453032.83
Shropshire1,0742,65940.39
Stafford1,0292,72437.78
Warwick33889537.77
Gt. Manchester6759611.24
W. Midlands3416121.12
Bedford7120135.32
Cambridge10037226.88
Essex14046230.30
Hertford13228546.32
Lincoln2541,00925.17
Norfolk4361.03142.29
Northampton24660140.93
Suffolk26858146.13
Berkshire12327444.89
Buckingham28166342.38
Hampshire52596154.63
Isle of Wight9021541.86
Kent29478537.45
Gt. London157619.74
Oxford33070746.68
Surrey18645440.97
Sussex East31972743.88
Sussex West35259259.46
Cornwall/Scilly1,8503,92747.11
Devon2,7496,25643.94
Dorset1,0921,62567.20
Gloucester6321,39445.34
Avon48493151.99
Somerset1,7962,96260.63
Wiltshire1,0021,41970.61
Clwyd7442,13634.83
Dyfed2,3046,82833.74
Powys1,0323,44629.95
M. Glamorgan8046017.39
S. Glamorgan8024133.20
W. Glamorgan5542512.94
Gwent3091,08628.45
Gwynedd4272,42817.59
Western Isles13830.26
Shetland102414.15
Orkney568606.51
Highland1702,0388.34
Grampian5572,39823.23
Tayside25592027.72
Fife11836931.98
Lothian8732726.61
Borders22681927.59
Central8348916.97
Strathclyde7943,72221.33
Dumfries & Galloway8232,32835.35

* June 1992 Agricultural Census data.

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Northern Ireland

Total of BSE confirmed herdsTotal of herds at riskTotal herd incidence per cent
Countyas at 31.12.97as at 31.12.97
Antrim2903,4548.4
Armagh952,5803.68
Down2173,3146.55
Fermanagh1043,2313.22
Londonderry2072,6017.96
Tyrone2665,3085.01

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De-boned Beef

Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:

    Further to the remarks of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) quoted by Lord Donoughue on 27 January (H.L. Deb., col. 150), whether the CMO would have modified his advice on the necessity of de-boning beef if the level of infectivity detected in the dorsal root ganglia had been (a) 10 times or (b) 100 times lower (all other things being equal); and, if so, what the modified advice would have been; and[HL368]

    Further to the remarks of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) quoted by Lord Donoughue on 27 January (H.L. Deb., Col. 150), whether the CMO would have modified his advice on the necessity of de-boning beef if the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee's (SEAC) estimate of the most likely number of infected animals entering the food chain in 1998 had been (a) two; (b) one; or (c) none (all other things being equal); and, if so, what such modified advice would have been.[HL369]

Lord Donoughue: The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) bases his advice to Ministers on the available evidence, rather than theoretical speculation.

On this occasion, BSE infectivity had been found in the dorsal root ganglia and bone marrow, tissue not covered by regulations preventing it from entering the human food chain. The CMO has consistently taken the view that it would be wrong to knowingly allow material which might contain BSE infectivity to enter or remain in the human food chain.

Minsters accepted that the risk of contracting new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from exposure to this material, although very small, was real. Because the protection of public health is a priority for this Government, we decided that action was necessary to ensure that material that could convey infectivity was removed from the human food chain.

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